Study on Dynamic Thermal Behavior of the Steel Pipes in Walking Beam Quenching Furnace

In the production process of steel pipe, the quenching is of significance to improve the quality of steel pipe. Therefore, the dynamic thermal behavior of the steel pipe in quenching furnace is studied in this work. The coupled conduction-radiation heat transfer model of steel pipe in walking beam quenching furnace is established. The thermal contact resistance, radiative heat transfer between the steel pipe and the tooth groove, the rotation process and the heating process of steel pipe are considered in this model. The effects of the rotation conditions, tooth groove temperatures and size of the steel pipe on thermal behavior of steel pipe are investigated thoroughly. It can be found that selecting one-way rotation of the steel pipe can reduce the section temperature difference of steel pipe; reducing the tooth groove temperatures near the furnace tail can effectively avoid steel pipe cracking; the large outside diameter steel pipes usually have large section temperature differences in the initial heating process, which means a higher temperature of the heating zone is required. This work can provide valuable reference for the improvement of quenching quality of steel pipe and on-line supervisory control of the production process